[Smt-talk] Keyboards for theory classes?

[Victor grauer]

I can't resist adding a few comments to this very stimulating conversation. 

First of all, it’s interesting to note that Schoenberg
himself felt so inadequate at the keyboard that he insisted on having an
assistant play over examples and student work at the piano for him. Hard to
believe that the author of Pierrot Lunaire wasn’t a pianist, but maybe he had a
pianist assist him in the scoring of that work (and so many others as well).
It’s also interesting to note that Stravinsky always worked
at the keyboard – while Hindemith insisted that “real composers” should always work
away from it. Did Hindemith have a “better ear” than Stravinksy. Well, imo,
nobody had a better ear than Stravinsky when it came to hearing complex tonal
relationships – but yes, by the usual standards of “musicianship,” Hindemith
probably did have a “better” ear. So did Schoenberg, who often composed while
taking a walk in the park. Or Wagner who composed standing in front of a
lectern.
As far as Beethoven is concerned, yes he had an amazing
inner ear, which enabled him to compose music of the most extraordinary
subtlety even while deaf. Yet, as far as I’ve been able to determine from
various biographical reports, he always worked at the piano anyhow, pounding
away even after the strings broke under his assault – which didn’t matter, of
course, since he couldn’t hear them anyhow.
As for me, if I may be so bold as to place myself in such
high powered company, I must confess that I’m not one of those musicians who
can look at a new score and immediately hear the music with crystal clarity. My
“inner ear” is useful when I’m writing something relatively simple, but not
completely trustworthy under all circumstances – so for years I too, like Stravinsky,
would usually write while at the keyboard – or at least check things out at the
keyboard to make sure all was kosher. But I also used the keyboard for another
reason – and that was the sheer excitement of actually hearing my music, rather
than simply contemplating it.
Which brings me to the computer, and the scoring
software, such as Finale or Sibelius, now available to composers, which
currently provides an array of fairly realistic sampled sounds. For me, this
resource has come as a revelation. And a liberation. I think of it, very
literally, as a prosthetic device, a kind of “hearing aid” that enables me to
compose with complete assurance, hearing perfectly all the tonal relations, and
even the final result, as I’m composing. Just like Beethoven himself!!!! In
fact I find it quite thrilling that a program like Finale enables me to have that
same sense of actually living “in the music” that Beethoven must have had while
hearing it so clearly via his remarkable inner ear. What this means,
ultimately, is that I no longer have any excuse. If I can’t compose as freely
as Beethoven, and with as much mastery, I can no longer blame it on my “ear.” -- Must be some other reason. :-( --

Victor Grauer
victorag at verizon.net
Pittsburgh, PA, USA

On Thursday, May 8, 2014 8:39 AM, David Feurzeig <mozojo at gmail.com> wrote:
 
On May 7, 2014, at 6:31 PM, Peter Schubert, Prof. wrote:
>> I sympathize with Hali's worry about the student's distance from the production of sound, which is why I am a fanatic about "play'n'sing." Listening to recordings and composing at the computer are mostly useless for my students.
>
>Way back before computer notation was the norm, and digital music labs barely existed, David Lewin was advising a counterpoint class on the importance of *singing* the repertoire to learn the idom. He said, "'Listening'? I don't know what 'listening' is."
>
>Composition and theory are already the most disembodied forms of musical engagement, and I feel a need to reinforce the physical. To paraphrase Lewin, I don't know what 'virtual' is.
>
>I recognize that the world has changed. I tell my students that if they're writing electronic music, the computer may be the logical home base. I also say there's no right answer:John Adams, for ex., composes drafts on his sequencer, then writes a full score by hand, then gives it to his copyist (because he doesn't do computer notation!). Even Thomas Ades is using a computer now to audition complex layerings. But that in my class they have to spend a substantial amount of time composing (respectively) with only their voice, with only their instrument, and with only the piano (and I tell them the purist types used to regard the *keyboard as a crutch).
>
>
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